


I'll See You Soon Darling

by alrangerz



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst and Tragedy, Blood and Injury, Car Accidents, Character Death, Drunk Driver Caused Accident, Emotional Hurt, F/F, I think those are all of em, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:49:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21973858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alrangerz/pseuds/alrangerz
Summary: Renee looks back on the worst day of her life. She was convinced she wouldn't be able to live after the incident, but she had a promise to keep.
Relationships: DarkSparks - Relationship, Wattson | Natalie Paquette/Wraith | Renee Blasey
Comments: 1
Kudos: 30





	I'll See You Soon Darling

**Author's Note:**

> I want to say, I'm not sorry at all for this. I just started writing and before I knew it, it was 3K words and honestly I didn't think I had it in me. Secondly, I made myself cry towards the end, not gonna lie. Also, I apologize for any inconsistencies. I tried my best to look up everything, but for some reason I couldn't get a lot of info.

When she thought about Natalie, she saw sunshine.

She saw nothing but nature and its beautiful attributes: the flowers blooming in the spring, the tiny woodland creatures pattering about the ground as they carried on with their days, and even the trees that grew tall after decades of being planted.

But now it was all drained of color; the trees dying as the flowers withered. The sun was always shadowed by the dark storm clouds that loomed over the land, threatening to bring nothing but rain for weeks upon weeks.

When she thought about Natalie, her heart ached and her body quaked as the tears streamed down her face for the upteenth time that evening. Memories of them celebrating holidays, and planning dates with movies and fancy dinners, came flooding back even after she pushed them into the back of her mind.

The image of her lover trapped in the flipped vehicle will forever be etched into her mind.

The look of pain that stayed frozen on Natalie’s features as she sat there waiting for the first responders to help her out of her seat, with blood dripping down her face and into her hairline.

The broken words in French that fell out of the blonde girl’s mouth as she tried to convince her that everything would be okay. The one thing that was supposed to keep her safe, ended up killing her, even if she was partially grateful for it since it kept her from breaking her neck against the roof, or worse...ending up outside of her car.

She could remember the faces of the first responders who had tried everything to get her out of the truck, but nothing worked.

What made her nauseous was the memory of arms wrapping around her waist to pull her away from the truck before she watched the emergency personnel take their steps back in defeat.

The whole memory was made real by the sound that left her when she got the news. The scream was one that haunted many that stood by that day.

* * *

Renee sat at home with her phone in her lap, thumb between her lips as she nervously chewed on the skin; she’d been waiting for Natalie’s daily text that she was on her way home from class, but after two hours of silence, the older woman became worried. It was unlike her girlfriend to not contact her for the smallest changes in her route home, all because she knew Renee would become frantic.

She picked up the phone and quickly dialed Natalie’s number. She put it on speaker and listened to it ring twice before it went straight to voicemail.

_You have reached the voicemail of Natalie Paquette! Je m'excuse, but I may be busy and cannot answer the phone, so please leave me a message! Au revoir!_

“Hey, babygirl, it's me. I’m just calling to see if everything is okay and what time you think you will be home. I love you, Nat. Bye.”

Her finger swiped over the screen to end the call as soon as she finished the message, but she still didn’t feel like it was enough so she tried calling three more times.

Nothing.

Worry began to gnaw at her, and she didn’t like it one bit. She slid off of the couch and disappeared to their bedroom to grab a sweater, her car keys, and her wallet. Before she could even come to stand near the front door, her phone began to ring. She hurriedly answered it, not bothering to see who was calling her.

“Natalie?”

“Not quite, Nee. Look, there was an accident on I-17 and it looked like Natalie’s truck, but...I’m on my way to the scene with Ajay. You might want to go...just to be safe.”

The voice of her best friend, Elliott, echoed in her mind as she tried to think of something to ask him, but before she could say anything, the line dropped, leaving her alone in silence once more. It was best to not waste any more time, she told herself as she quickly left the apartment and mounted the motorcycle that was parked in the front parking spot.

* * *

It was just another day for Natalie. She attended the three classes she had that afternoon and hung out with her friends for about an hour before she would start her trek home. The roads were more empty than usual for a Thursday, but she wasn’t complaining. It just meant more space for her. She would normally call her girlfriend to let her know that she’d be home soon, but she decided to stop by Renee’s favorite bakery, Essence Bakery, and pick up some sweets to take home. She wanted to surprise her with a box of almond streusel coffee cakes and a piece of saint honore cake.

The young woman checked her watch for the time and smiled when she noticed it was still early. They could eat the dessert and still have room for dinner later. She unlocked the doors to her truck and carefully placed the boxes in the backseat. She sifted through her school bag and grabbed the bottle of water that was in there to take it to the front with her. After she settled in the driver’s seat, she put on her music and began making her way out of the parking lot and onto the road home. She’d be lying if she said the road home never made her nervous. I-17 was deemed one of the most dangerous interstates in the nation, and she had seen one of the many fatal crashes that occurred weekly. When she heard about it on the news the next day, she had found out that a drunk driver caused the death of two people. The thought alone made her feel sick.

“You’ll be fine, Natalie. You’re safe, and look, the roads are pretty empty right now!” The French woman let out a nervous chuckle at her own attempt at calming herself, but it wasn’t working. “Just, calm down. Breathe and listen to the music, and you’ll be home in no time.” With that mindset she was able to continue driving on the long stretch of road, and everything was fine.

Everything was fine, she told herself even when she was suddenly jolted to the side, then everything started spinning over and over until it all stopped. All was quiet, minus the harsh ringing in her ears which bothered her immensely. She opened her eyes but her vision was blurry for a few moments.

_Did someone just hit me? I can’t feel my legs, but nothing hurts…maybe I’m in shock..._

Those were her only thoughts until the ringing subsided and she heard the panicked shouting of a man nearby. Then she started to feel all of it, and her vision was slowly returning. She was upside-down, but she hadn’t fallen. Her hands were still on the steering wheel, but her legs...she couldn’t feel them, and that alone made the panic settle in. Her spine hurt the most, and that with the inability to feel anything below her waist placed her under the assumption that something was fractured, and if she moved she could possibly make it worse. She felt something trickling along her hairline and she wasn’t sure if it was blood or her own tears. She wasn’t even sure if she was crying at this point.

“Ma’am, can you hear me? Ma’am...hear me?”

“ _Quoi? S'il vous plaît! Quelqu'un m'aide!”_

“Ma’am, stay still. Emergency services are on their way, you have to stay calm,” the man said.

Natalie removed her hands from the steering wheel and searched around for her phone. She had no luck finding it and she grit her teeth with a hiss when she reached too far to the side. It seemed that her shoulder wasn’t in good condition either. Her eyes traveled to the windshield which had definitely been shattered in the roll, and she tried to remember what had happened.

_I was traveling westbound on the interstate…_

_You were doing fine._

_I passed an exit? I think that’s where I am…but which exit? Am I even still in Phoenix?_

_You were near two people._

_Someone hit my right side. The door is gone, the side is crushed closed...I’m in a ditch. I have to be on the opposite side of the interstate...how am I alive?_

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of sirens in the near distance.

_Firefighters. That’s a fire truck…_

“Okay, ma’am hang in there. The firefighters are going to help you. Here they come right now.”

That was good, she thought to herself, but it didn’t ease the racing of her heart, or the panic that had taken over her completely. The feeling had yet to return to her legs, and at this point she was confident that she was paralyzed.

Footsteps near the truck caught her attention. Multiple people were around her, one of them laying on the ground to get her attention.

“ _Monsieur_ , I...I cannot feel my legs...my seatbelt is stuck, and I’m confident my spine is fractured…my chest hurts...a lot...”

The young man nodded his head and looked away to tell somebody what she had said before turning back to her. “Okay, ma’am we’re gonna try to get you out of here. I’m Captain Makoa. My men and I will do everything to get you out. Just try to keep calm, I was told you’re doing a great job thus far. Can you follow the light for me please?” He held a small flashlight to her eyes and moved it side to side, smiling softly when she followed it. “Good. The paramedics are here. They’ll check you out further while we get our stuff together.”

Before he could go, she reached out as best as she could as brushed his hand. “ _Ma petite amie_ , she needs...needs to know where I am. She is my...emergency contact, please…”

He took her hand and gently squeezed it. “We’ll do what we can, I promise.”

And with that, he left her alone once again until medical personnel came to her side. So many thoughts were going through her head right now, but all of them ended with how was her girlfriend going to react? She knew the older woman would most likely freak out.

Before she could think anymore, she started coughing and a metallic taste filled her mouth.

“Shit! She’s coughing up blood!”

She was, wasn’t she?

Natalie began to feel light-headed, and maybe it was because she had been hanging upside-down for more than ten minutes, or maybe it was the...what did the paramedic just say? A pulmonary contusion? A chest fracture? She squeezed her eyes shut and tried her best to drown out the voices. All the noise was starting to bother her, and the pain in her chest was slowly making itself present. Everything was hurting, and she couldn’t help but laugh, which caused her to cough even more.

“Ma’am, you have to stay very still. We’re going to try and get you out now. We’re just gonna put this on right quick,” the man said as he placed something around her neck. It was a brace, which made sense since she did mention a spinal fracture. They wanted to avoid any further damage if they were going to move her.

“Alright, ma’am, we’re going to try and get you freed. Bear with us, okay?”

“Wait...my girlfriend...is she here? I want to,” she was interrupted by another series of coughs and more blood spilled out.

“There is no time, we need to get you out now, miss.”

Natalie closed her eyes again. She could hear her buzzing of the hydraulic shears as they cut through the metal of her truck. They managed to pop the door open halfway, then it stopped and she heard the quick shuffling of feet.

* * *

Visiting the scene of a car accident was something Renee never thought she’d have to do, yet here she was, asking the first officer she made eye contact with what had happened.

“Are you a relative,” the woman asked Renee.

“I’m her girlfriend. Please, I need to see her. Is she okay?” Renee was already panicking internally, but she knew she couldn’t show it until Natalie was deemed okay. _Please be okay, babygirl._

The officer escorted Renee through the group of people that had gathered on the side to spectate the scene. She’d be lying if she said it didn’t make her angry. She always thought it was disrespectful for random people to just sit there and watch a tragedy unfold right before them. It was already bad enough that friends and family had to deal with the grief of losing someone, or having them on the verge of death due to their injuries.

“Makoa, we have the girlfriend you were talking about. She just showed up, and her friends.”

Renee walked up to the man. He seemed friendly enough, but the face he held was serious. “She’s conscious and responsive, but she seems to be in a state of slight panic, and we’re afraid that she has a pulmonary contusion due to a chest fracture. We’re trying right now to get her out of there so that she can be taken to the ER, but It looks like her doors and seatbelt are jammed.”

She was glad to hear that Natalie was at least alive, but a chest fracture and pulmonary contusion, if not treated as soon as possible, could be fatal. The thought alone made her heart ache. She doesn’t know what she’d do if she lost the love of her life.

The young woman was brought out of her thoughts when she heard...Makoa? Was that his name? When she heard him yell at his men to step aside for a minute. He knelt down beside the hanging door and gestures for Renee to follow suit. “I’ll leave you two for a minute while we try to figure something out.”

“Thank you,” she responded before laying on the ground next to the truck. The sight of Natalie was enough to make her heart drop. “Nat, hey. I’m here, baby.”

Natalie looked to her right and tried her best to smile. “Mon cher...I...I am so sorry. I should’ve…I should’ve called you-“

“Hey, no. You’re fine. You’re gonna be fine. They’re gonna get you out and we’re gonna get you fixed up, okay?” Renee bit down on her bottom lip to keep herself from crying. She winced when Natalie coughed more which caused a few tears to fall from her eyes.

“Renee, _je’taime...me vie._ I love you...so much…”

“I love you, babygirl. Hey, we’re gonna go to your favorite pizza place when you’re all healed up and ready to go again. We can go to the beach, we can go to Nevada...just please hang in there. For me, please…” She reached in the truck and held Natalie’s hand in her own. It was shaking so badly.

“Sir, we could only get it halfway, we need to try a different angle.” One of the firefighters said to his captain.

Makoa nodded and looked over at the truck, and the scene before him made him want to help that much more, but he was afraid that the damage was already done. “Try the door again. We need to try and get her outta there now.”

His men returned to the truck and politely asked Renee to scoot aside so that they could continue working on the metal. Renee tried her best to keep her composure, but every time she looked at the men, she noticed the looks on their faces, and they looked pretty sorrow. Then one of them turned to her.

“Is there any way we can do this through manpower,” one of them asked.

“We can try, but if the tools can’t get through, it’s because something is jammed hard.”

Renee took a few steps back to give them more room, and the sound of metal creaking filled her with hope...until it wasn’t budging anymore.

“Dammit! And we can’t do anything without moving her too much. See if med can give her more time.”

The group dispersed quickly, allowing Renee to take her spot next to Natalie once more. “Renee, they are running...out of time. There...there isn’t a lot they can,” she stopped mid sentence to cough. The wheezing could be heard now, and it was evident by the amount of blood spilling that the young woman wouldn’t make it much longer. “They cannot do more...promise me that...that you will carry on. It will hurt...I know, but... _mon_ _dieu_ …but live for me. Please…”

“Natalie, I can’t...no, I can’t live on my own. Please, hang in there, my love…” She grasped Natalie’s hand in both of her own and brought it to her lips. She couldn’t hold herself together, and she finally let the tears fall.

“You can...and you will. Renee...Blasey,” she took a shuddering breath and turned her head as much as she could to look Renee in the eyes. “I love you. Don’t...do not forget that. You got this…” Her face scrunched up in pain as another series of coughs racked her body.

“Natalie Paquette, I love you too. I will never, ever forget that, or you.” The older leaned forward to press a kiss to her girlfriend’s cheek. “I’m gonna miss you so much, Natalie.”

Renee pulled away and squeezed the other woman’s hand once more before letting her go. She wiped her face and made way for the paramedics. She knew that whatever they tried wouldn’t help, and she had to accept that, yet for some reason when she watched the woman place her gloves hands on the truck’s surface, and the shaking of her head, she lost it. A pair of arms wrapped around her waist to keep her from running forward.

Everything around her became a haze; every sound drowned out and every person disappeared as she yelled and cried, and even thrashed around in the person’s arms.

A few months later and she still had nightmares where she would be standing on the highway next to that truck. Every dream was different in some way, but it was never the correct one. She would wake up in a cold sweat, quietly crying into her pillow until her chest hurt and her eyes burned. Some nights when she couldn’t go back to sleep she would go into her office room and pick out a file. In the folder was a copy of the police report. She only kept it since the insurance company needed it for the claim. She doesn’t know why she hasn’t gotten rid of it, or why she even keeps reading it.

**_Report filed by Phoenix Police Department_ **

**_Date of incident: 05/27/2023_ **

**_Time of Incident: 14:32 Time of Dispatch: 14:36_ **

**She would skip over the vehicle and driver information. She always went straight to the report details and eyewitness accounts.**

**_At around 14:34 Phoenix Fire Department responded to a call about an accident on I-17. Banner - University Medical Center dispatched as well at the same time._ **

**_Fire Captain Makoa Gibraltar claimed to have seen a blue truck lying tires up in a ditch opposite of Exit 201. Based on eyewitness accounts, Driver 2 seemed to be heading westbound towards US 60 when Driver 1, who was eventually revealed to be intoxicated way above the legal limit, came from Exit 200’s ramp and hit Driver 2. Driver 1 was going an excessive speed of 90mph when he hit Driver 2. Driver 2’s vehicle hit the median before flipping over it and continued rolling until it landed in the ditch opposite of Driver 1._ **

**_According to the first responders on scene, Driver 2’s truck was in such a bad condition that both doors were jammed and so was her seatbelt, leaving her unable to be rescued in time before her injuries caused her death._ **

Renee stared at the report, and it made her upset. The drunk driver who came out of the accident with only a broken arm and fractured leg would not only have to deal with the guilt of killing a young woman, but eventually Renee would face him in court.

When she thought of Natalie, she saw memories filled with joy: their first kiss, their first move-in together, and their first ‘I love you’ to one another. She saw a future where they lived in a beautiful trailer in the country with two cats and a baby.

When she thought of Natalie, she saw promises that will never be completed, days and days of loneliness in the darkness of their bed. She always wondered if she’d ever be okay again, and she was convinced that she wouldn’t, but as Natalie would always say, “The universe has plans in store for both of us. Together and separate. Everything happens for a reason, so don’t question it.”

And she didn't. She continued on with life, aiming to get better day by day, for Natalie’s sake, and to fulfill her final wishes.

“This one is for you, Natalie Paquette.”

**Author's Note:**

> Well that was a ride. Let me know what y'all thought! It is always appreciated.


End file.
